Christine and the Opera Ghost
by Anna-J-R
Summary: At the end of the movie, Christine doesn't run away with Raoul, she's stays with the Phantom and escapes with him.
1. Chapter 1

There I was, standing in the middle of a ghostly lake, my hand on his neck and the other on his deformed cheek. I pressed my lips one last time to his and it was like nothing I'd ever felt. Not when I kissed Raoul or anything else that was as satisfactory when my lips touched the phantom's. He was warm and fierce, yet so gentle with every movement of his hands and his lips. I took in his scent and ran my fingers through his coarse hair. This man was a murderer filled with bloodlust and hatred for the world around him, yet an artist and a magician and a composer. This man loved one and only person in the world, and he'd waited his whole life, tormented by the world's mocking and sneers, to meet the one person that would love him for who he was.

In the last brief seconds of our kiss, I pictured everything. I saw my life with Raoul, a Countess nonetheless, a few children and maybe grandchildren, all of which I wanted ever so deeply, but here was a man that would never have any of that. The only chance he ever had of receiving a life of happiness was if he had me. I then pictured what it would be like to stay and give my life of happiness up just to keep the Phantom, the one person who inspired me to sing, happy. I wanted it, I wanted_ him_ suddenly. The phantom's tall slender body and his deep caressing voice; he would sing me to sleep and would love me like no other man. Not even Raoul. If I gave myself to him now, maybe he would let me go, if I was unhappy. Then I realized I was thinking like I had the choice, but the phantom was going to take me against my will.

He pulled away from my face with a look of no description. Tears ran down his deformed face and he turned away from me. "Go!" he yelled, and started walking through the water, away from me and Raoul. "Forget me. Forget all you've seen. Take the boat and swear to me never to tell the secret you know of the Angel in hell." I didn't think, I just ran to Raoul and quickly untied him from the gate. I hugged him.

"Are you alright?" I muttered gasping for breaths. He kissed me, and hugged me back.

"Yes."

"Go now and leave me!" The phantom yelled. He was still crying and I wanted to go to him.

"Raoul," I whispered quickly under my breath. "I need you to do something for me."

He looked me straight in the eye with a concerned face. "Anything, but we need to go before he changes his mind."

I nodded. "Go get the boat and tell the police and everybody looking, that the phantom captured me and escaped. I'm going to…stay with him. Not permanently, my dear, but he needs me. Go on with your life and I promise I will meet up with you soon. I cannot leave this man like this."

Raoul's eyes were terrified and were glistening with tears. "What?" he asked, choking on his voice? "You're staying…with him?"

I hugged his neck again and kissed him fervently. "Go!" I said urgently and pushed him towards the boat. "Please, Raoul!"

He shook his head, but moved anyways. The last few looks he gave me before leaving in the boat were scared and anguished looks. I smiled weakly and waved back. I waited until Raoul was no longer in sight and then sloshed through the lake up on the ground of the phantom's cave. I searched and found him in front of the monkey music box. "_Masquerade_," he sang to the tune, "_paper faces on parade_." He looked up at me and his eyes widened. "_Christine, I love you_."

I nodded, tears spilling down my cheeks. I walked over to him; my engagement ring clasped tight in my hand and placed it in his smooth palm. "Raoul is gone. I'm not leaving you," my words were almost inaudible. "I love you, too."

The phantom's eyes widened ever more, his body completely motionless. I reached up and pressed my palm to the deformed side of his face. I brought my lips up and kissed below his eye and down to his chin. His arms slid down my back and he pressed himself closer to me. I felt silent tears on my neck and his soft lips caressing the side of my face as well. I hugged him and buried my face into his chest.

"Don't do this. Don't do this for me," he muttered.

I pulled away quickly, "I'm not doing this for you. I…love you and want to stay with you."

His brows were furrowed. His eyes glistened with more tears. "Why? I've…killed people. I was going to steal you, like a monster..."

I placed my head on his chest again. His big, strong hand stroked my hair. "You are the only one that's ever believed in me. And, when I'm with you, I get a feeling I don't get when I'm with anyone else. You make me feel whole."

"Christine," he whispered in my ear. Not as a question, but more of a sigh of confusion mixed with utter happiness.

I didn't realize how much I truly loved him until this moment. He was beautiful. A talented being that deserved what everyone else got. The world shouldn't shun somebody just because of an irregularity. It was heartless and cruel. No wonder the phantom acted out the way he did. He lusted towards me because I was the only one that gave him a shred of recognition.

"Thank you," he whispered again. Suddenly tears came into my eyes. I felt them soaking through his shirt. I pulled away and stared into his soul.

"What has the world done to you?" I said in a gentle voice. I reached up and kissed his lips. It was a feeling I'd never experienced. Kissing him brought joyful tears to my eyes and sent tingles down my spine. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled myself closer. He slid his arms under my legs and picked me up. I pulled away, "We have to get out of here," I said, serious. He smiled. "What?" I asked.

"I have never used the word we. I like the sound of 'we'. It makes me so ecstatic." He sighed in happiness. "But, you're right. They'll come looking down here for us at any moment." He swiftly let me down on the ground.

"How do we escape?" I looked around and there was only one way in and out; the lake. He didn't answer me. Instead, he looked around on the ground for something. He picked up candle holder.

"Stand back."

I took a few steps away from the row of mirrors I was in front of. He bashed the first mirror, revealing just cracked glass. He continued this process till the 4th mirror. This one bashed all the way through. I looked through the space behind the bashed mirror. It looked like a tunnel.

"Come with me," he said and held out his hand. Even though I'd already committed to staying with him, this was the moment. The moment where we left together to that dark, demanding world outside. I reached out for his hand, hesitated, and then grabbed it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The Phantom closed the curtain behind us and we began walking down a long, cold hallway. It wasn't like the one he led me through the first time I visited his lair. The torches on the wall were covered with cob webs. The only light visible was the torch he lit right before entering the walkway. The walls were mossy and smelled like mold. I was walking in my ballet shoes through two or three inches of cold, murky water. The phantom was gently holding my hand while moving swiftly, but not violently pulling me like he did only a short hour ago.

I quickly remembered the past hour. I felt like a different person now. I felt like I was really living, instead of existing in an opera bubble, filled with make-up, lights, fancy costumes, and the constant stress of being perfect.

I glanced forward at the man I was running away with. He wasn't this dreamy, dark figure who lived in a candle lit cave, with a mysterious mask. He was real. He was damaged. He was so incredibly sad. But I loved him. I didn't understand at first in the lake, but then I realized that this was the man who always believed in me, from the moment he knew I existed. He never gave up on me, even when I pulled away from him and almost married Raoul. Even though he went mad, I can't blame him. The woman he loved was rejecting him, and for someone like the Phantom who was abused as a child and who only really knew Madam Giry, never learned how to deal with his emotions.

We were still moving swiftly, and I could almost see light and it looked like fire. I suddenly stopped running,

"Christine, what are you doing?" he gasped. The look on his face was tortured. "Do you want to change your mind? I can take you back, I promise. I never want to hurt you again."

"Shh," I said and placed a finger on his lips. "Kiss me?"

He raised his eyebrows, and sighed in relief. "Quickly," he said, and I noticed the corners of his mouth flinch upward into a slight smile. I could tell he was trying to act relaxed, but probably feared losing me if the police caught up with us.

Even though he said "quickly," he slowly approached me. I'm sure he was hesitant with this only being our third kiss. And everything was different now; there wasn't the rush of newly found love. Things were completely real now.

He wiped his free hand off on his dirty shirt and reached out for me. I took his hand and closed the distance between us. His hand moved from my hand to wipe the sweaty curly hair from my face. He placed a finger under my chin and drew my mouth to his. Our lips touched with an electric current. I completely forgot where we were and the fact that we were fleeing from an angry mob of people I once spent my life with. His hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me as close to him as possible.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and moved my lips to his nose, his cheek, and then to the deformed side of his face. He kissed my lips one more time and then stared into my eyes for a brief moment. "I love you, Christine."

I smiled one of the most genuine smiles of my life, "As I love you…" and I hesitated. I couldn't believe I didn't know his name.

He chuckled, "Some pleasant people used to call me Erik, if you please to call me that."

I smiled, "Erik. I like that. Oh, and you can call me Christine, if you would like," I winked.

He sighed and kissed my forehead, "Let's go, my beautiful, Christine Daae," he said and grabbed my hand. He suddenly became motionless, and then we both heard the noises. People were shouting my name in the distance. We also heard the sounds of metal clanging and glass breaking. We both started to run towards the end of the tunnel. I could just make out a fiery light at the end and my heart started to race.

What if they found us? They would kill Erik for sure and I couldn't bear to watch him die.

The fiery light at the end of the tunnel was faint, though I was certain we were getting closer. "How much longer?" I whispered, getting worried, hearing very faint noises get louder in the distance behind me.

"Almost there," he said, picking up his pace, almost making me run now. After what seemed like two more minutes, we approached a pile of stacked rocks. The cracks between the rocks were the source of the faint light. He started tugging at the rocks, finding them to be quite stuck.

"Let me help," I said and rushed to his side.

"No," he put an arm out to stop me.

"Christine?" I heard the familiar voice of Meg Giry echo from the other side of the tunnel.

"Erik, do you hear that? Those are the people that will ruin our future, if you don't let me help you." He sighed, but nodded his head and put his arm down. I rushed over and began to tug away at the rocks. My nails were breaking away and becoming bloody, but I didn't let him know that I was hurt.

After mass amount of tugging and pushing, one rock slipped free. Then a few more loosened. The noise in the distance grew rapidly and the mob was closing in on us. The whole was big enough for us to climb over. Erik went first and then helped me over the wall. Right after I placed my feet on the ground, I heard a louder shout come from Meg, but I don't think she saw us.

"Hurry," I whispered, taking the lead. I imagined that even though I spent almost as much time as Erik in the Opera house, I probably knew my way around Paris better than he did.

"This way," he said and grabbed my hand in the other direction. I didn't fight him. He was the brilliant one after all. As I was following Erik, I caught a few glances of the Opera house. My childhood, my life was burning away all in a matter of seconds. Firemen swarmed the perimeter and mass amounts of people dressed in their finest, were screaming, trying to evacuate the Opera house from every entrance. I found a slightly burnt fur coat thrown on the ground and swiftly picked it up. Erik was gaining speed on me without realizing it. I frantically searched around for another coat, successfully finding a man's dress coat, badly burnt on the bottom, but it had to do.

"Erik!" I shouted, not realizing how far he'd advanced while I was looking for coats. He came to a complete stop and turned around. His face was terrified.

"Christine! What are you doing?" He yelled over the screaming voices and ran back to me.

"I found these for disguising ourselves," I hurriedly said and handed him the men's coat.

In all of this stress and terror, he smiled in disbelief, and put the coat on while I quickly placed the other fur coat over my shoulders. We ran as far as we could before needing to take a break. When I could no longer breathe, I made Erik stop and wait for me. We stopped in the Jardin de Tuileries, to sit down for a moment. Two people started to stare at us and one looked like the recognized one of us. Erik wasn't paying attention, so to avoid them from taking a closer look, I grabbed his face and starting kissing him. He started to push me away, surprised by my actions, but I kept a firm hold on his face and his grasp loosened. I tried not to get carried away, keeping one eye slightly opened to watch the strangers. They started to walk away and I waited until they were out of my sight to let go of Erik's face.

Surprisingly, he pulled my face back to his and began to kiss me even more. His hands began to enclose my back, and though I almost lost my mind, I found a shred of reason in the back of my mind and pulled my head away, "Erik!" I said, harshly, though with a smile.

"What?" He said, seeming surprisingly happy.

"We need to keep moving," I said and stood up.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. He looked into my eyes, "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too. So much," I closed my eyes and giggled. "Did we really just do that? Is it over?"

"I hope so, more than anything." He said and grabbed my face with both of his hands to place his mouth on mine. He started crying. I kissed his face and kissed under his eyes, gently letting my mouth slide down the deformed side of his face. His hands grasped my back and pulled me closer to him. We both started to breathe deeply. I could feel him grow excited and I slid my hand down to touch him. He moaned and kissed me deeper.

"Christine," he mumbled under his breath. I wanted him right then. My want for him inside of me was growing by the second. I kissed his cheek and kissed over to his ear. I shoved my tongue in his ear and he moaned again. He was running his hands fiercely up and down my body. He placed his hands over my breasts and started caressing. I rubbed him over his pants harder and faster until he pushed my hand away.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head, "You have no idea how much self control it took to make you stop just then. If you would have continued for one more second, I would have… you understand?"

I nodded, smiling. "We should keep moving, right?"

He sighed, "I guess." We both adjusted ourselves and looked around. There was no one visible, so we kept running. We got to the river and stole a boat. Erik led us down the river to the southern tip of Paris, hoping that the news of the Opera tragedy hadn't spread that far.

We tied up our boat in a dock and checked into the closest inn. It was almost morning. The sun was just beginning to rise in the east. We were both completely exhausted.

Erik grabbed my hand and led me to the front door of the inn. We knocked. Nobody answered. We knocked again and a minute later a man opened the door. He appeared to have just woken up. "What?" he asked, furious.

"We need refuge for at least one night. Can we stay with you? We can pay whatever you need."

He looked Erik up and down who was squeezing my hand. "Two silver pieces." I nodded and fumbled in my bosom for my coin purse. I handed him the money. "Thank you. Your generosity is greatly appreciated."

He nodded and winked at me. He showed us to our room and gave us a key. We had our own bathroom and bathtub which was very unusual. The man left and closed the door behind him. I was fumbling with the bathtub and finally figured out how to turn on the water. "Erik!" I said.

He ran in the bathroom, "What?"

"We have running water!" He nodded and smiled.

He leaned against the wall and chuckled, "What?" I asked and stood up.

He shook his head, "I'm just still in shock, I suppose. You are perfect and you decided to stay with me. Even after all I did to you and Raoul. It just doesn't make sense. I was abusive and awful. Why?"

I shook my head and walked up to him. "Everyone has their faults. I was selfish and ignorant, but I finally saw you for who you really were. You're not angry and evil. You're tortured. The world has done you wrong and I think you deserve so much better. You deserve happiness and so do I. I would never have been truly happy with Raoul. I would have lived a nice life, but I wouldn't have ever felt for him the way I feel for you. You make me feel alive and wanted and special. He made me feel like a possession, not somebody truly, and irrevocably loved."

He wrapped his arms around my lower back and looked into my eyes. "I love you, my beautiful, perfect Christine Daae."

"I love you, Erik. I wouldn't ask for anything else."

**HEY GUYS! I finally got around to writing another chapter. I promise it's not over yet. Steamy parts are probably going to come, so be prepared!**


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